Adjacent Words

Chafe definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHAFE, v.t.
1. To excite heat or inflammation by friction, as to chafe the skin; also, to fret and wear by rubbing, as to chafe a cable.
2. To act violently upon, by rubbing; to fret against, as waves against a shore.
The troubled Tyber chafing with his shores.
3. To be fretted and worn by rubbing; as, a cable chafes.
CHAFE, n.
1. Heat, excited by friction.
2. Violent agitation of the mind or passions; heat; fret; passion.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: soreness and warmth caused by friction; "he had a nasty chafe on his knee"
2: anger produced by some annoying irritation [syn: annoyance, chafe, vexation] v
1: become or make sore by or as if by rubbing [syn: chafe, gall, fret]
2: feel extreme irritation or anger; "He was chafing at her suggestion that he stay at home while she went on a vacation"
3: cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations; "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves" [syn: annoy, rag, get to, bother, get at, irritate, rile, nark, nettle, gravel, vex, chafe, devil]
4: tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading; "This leash chafes the dog's neck" [syn: chafe, excoriate]
5: cause friction; "my sweater scratches" [syn: rub, fray, fret, chafe, scratch]
6: warm by rubbing, as with the hands

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (chafed; chafing) Etymology: Middle English chaufen to warm, from Anglo-French chaufer, from Vulgar Latin *calfare, alteration of Latin calefacere, from cal?re to be warm + facere to make — more at lee, do Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. irritate, vex 2. to warm by rubbing especially with the hands 3. a. to rub so as to wear away ; abrade <the boat chafed its sides against the dock> b. to make sore by or as if by rubbing intransitive verb 1. to feel irritation, discontent, or impatience ; fret <chafes at his restrictive desk job> 2. to rub and thereby cause wear or irritation II. noun Date: 1551 1. a state of vexation ; rage 2. injury or wear caused by friction; also friction, rubbing

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. & intr. make or become sore or damaged by rubbing. 2 tr. rub (esp. the skin to restore warmth or sensation). 3 tr. & intr. make or become annoyed; fret (was chafed by the delay). --n. 1 a an act of chafing. b a sore resulting from this. 2 a state of annoyance. Etymology: ME f. OF chaufer ult. f. L calefacere f. calere be hot + facere make

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chafe Chafe, n. 1. Heat excited by friction. 2. Injury or wear caused by friction. 3. Vexation; irritation of mind; rage. The cardinal in a chafe sent for him to Whitehall. --Camden.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chafe Chafe (ch[=a]f), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chafed (ch[=a]ft); p pr. & vb. n. Chafing.] [OE. chaufen to warm, OF. chaufer, F. chauffer, fr. L. calefacere, calfacere, to make warm; calere to be warm + facere to make. See Caldron.] 1. To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm. To rub her temples, and to chafe her skin. --Spenser. 2. To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate. Her intercession chafed him. --Shak. 3. To fret and wear by rubbing; as, to chafe a cable. Two slips of parchment which she sewed round it to prevent its being chafed. --Sir W. Scott. Syn: To rub; fret; gall; vex; excite; inflame.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chafe Chafe, v. i. To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction. Made its great boughs chafe together. --Longfellow. The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores. --Shak. 2. To be worn by rubbing; as, a cable chafes. 3. To have a feeling of vexation; to be vexed; to fret; to be irritated. --Spenser. He will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(chafes, chafing, chafed) 1. If your skin chafes or is chafed by something, it becomes sore as a result of something rubbing against it. My shorts were chafing my thighs... His wrists began to chafe against the cloth strips binding them... The messenger bent and scratched at his knee where the strapping chafed. VERB: V n, V against n, V 2. If you chafe at something such as a restriction, you feel annoyed about it. (FORMAL) He had chafed at having to take orders from another... He was chafing under the company's new ownership. VERB: no passive, V at/under/against n/-ing, V at/under/against n/-ing

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

chaf (mar, "bitter"; hence, bitter of soul, deadly, destructive, ferocious, "as a bear robbed of her whelps"): Occurs only in 2Sa 17:8; used by Hushai to characterize David's supposedly fierce mood at the time of Absalom's armed rebellion.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Rub, injure by rubbing, wear by rubbing. 2. Irritate, vex, annoy, fret, tease, gall, chagrin, provoke, ruffle, offend, nettle, incense, enrage, exasperate, anger, make angry. II. v. n. 1. Be rubbed, be worn by rubbing. 2. Rage, fret, fume.

Moby Thesaurus

ablate, ablation, abrade, abrase, abrasion, abrasive, afflict, aggravate, agonize, ail, annoy, arouse, attrition, bark, be livid, be pissed, bite, blemish, bloody, bluster, boil, bother, break, bristle, browned off, bruise, buffing, burn, burn to, burnishing, carry on, chafing, check, chip, claw, concussion, convulse, cook, corrode, crack, crackle, craze, crucify, cut, damage, detrition, distress, dressing, electric-heat, embitter, embitterment, erase, erasure, erode, erosion, exacerbate, exacerbation, exasperate, excoriate, excruciate, exercise, fester, file, filing, fire, fire up, flash burn, flay, foment, fracture, fray, frazzle, fret, fret and fume, fretting, fume, fuss, gall, galling, gas-heat, gash, get excited, give pain, gnaw, gnaw away, go on, grate, grate on, gravel, graze, grazing, grind, grinding, gripe, grit, hardly wait, harrow, hasten, have a conniption, heat, heat up, hot, hot up, hot-air-heat, hot-water-heat, huff, hurt, impair, incense, incise, incision, inflame, inflict pain, injure, injury, irk, irritant, irritate, irritation, itch to, jump the gun, kill by inches, lacerate, laceration, lesion, limation, maim, make mincemeat of, make sore, martyr, martyrize, maul, miff, mortal wound, mull, mutilate, mutilation, nettle, nip, overheat, pain, peel, peeve, pierce, pinch, pique, pissed off, polishing, preheat, prick, prolong the agony, provocation, provoke, puncture, put to torture, rack, rage, raise Cain, raise hell, raise the devil, raise the roof, rankle, rant, rant and rave, rasp, rasping, rave, raze, recook, reheat, rend, rent, rile, rip, roil, rub, rub away, rub off, rub out, rubbing away, ruffle, run, rupture, sandblasting, sanding, savage, scald, scorch, scotch, scour, scouring, scrape, scraping, scratch, scratching, scrub, scrubbing, scuff, second-degree burn, seethe, set on edge, set up, shining, simmer, sizzle, skin, slash, slit, smoke, smolder, smoothing, sore, soreness, sprain, squirm, stab, stab wound, steam, stew, stick, sting, stir the blood, stir up, stoke up, storm, strain, superheat, sweat, sweat and stew, sweat it out, take on, tear, tepefy, third-degree burn, throw a fit, torment, torture, trauma, traumatize, tweak, twist, vex, wait impatiently, warm, warm over, warm up, wear, wear away, wearing away, work up, worry, wound, wounds immedicable, wrench, wring